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Monday, 7 November 2016

Spotlight on...Ryan Kemp

The room was black, not just dark, the sort of blackness that fills your soul and sucks any kind of hope from you. There was a click, and a piercing white light blazed into my eyes, blinding me as surely and totally as the blackness had moments before.I heard the scraping of plasteel on rockcrete, and the rustling of a heavy fabric being moved to allow its wearer to be seated."State your name."

Ryan Kemp.

"What faction is your army, and do you include allies with it?"

Space Marines. No allies.

"What made you choose the particular colour scheme you went with? Was it an adaptation of another colour scheme you've seen in 40k or elsewhere or was it completely original?"

So when I first got back into Warhammer40k after the space marine video game was release,I had no choice but to collect space marines being a good beginners army and the boxgame featured them also. I was persuade by the guy in store at whw to collect red scorpions. Since then I have re done my marines in the current scheme there are in now. Bright orange with black trim and black helmets. I picked this because when I played dawn of war the video game, I was always orange with black trim, and I was pretty damn good at that game:)

"Airbrush or conventional?"

Airbrush for the orange then the rest of the model by brush

"Do you paint to play or is painting worthwhile in its own right for you?"

I paint to play, this army I painted as I built so could only play with fully painted models, it was great motivation for getting things painted.

"What your favourite (signature) painting technique, are you a drybrusher, or do you like little fiddly details, maybe freehand is for you, or extreme highlights?"

I like washes, they make everything look good. But my new favourite thing to do is battle damage with a sponge, so easy and effective.

"Have you ever, or would you ever, paint a space marine pink?"

I haven’t yet but I would for sure paint a pink marine

"Finally on painting then, what’s the colour you hate painting the most?"

I find white hard to paint

"Do you prefer to use a CAD in preference to faction-specific detachments, and if so, why?"

In competitive play I like a restricted form of list building to keep things from getting too cheesy. Say a CAD with max 1 or 2 formations. I’ll still play in events where anything goes. For fun play I like both the CAD and faction formation especially using marines as the new Angels of Death mixed with formations really brings out the flavour of different chapters. Sorry for the politician’s answer!

"When you set out to design the army, was the list written as a take-all-comers list or was it more proactive - intended to force your opponent to deal with your assets and your style of play."

I always build an all-comers list, it’s just how I roll. I would love to play an army full of dreadnoughts and centurions at some point.

"Speaking of which, what is your style of play, are you aggressive, defensive, do you prefer to take the first turn or do you prefer to let the game evolve and deal with threats as they appear."

I’m the sort of player that always plays the missions and never gets blinded by seeing red or trying to kill a certain unit. With my marines first turn is always helpful as I can put out the hurt from a distance and close up using my drop pods. Some army builds though I do prefer to take the second turn.

"When you write your first list from a codex, do you write it to a specific points total in your mind or do you start with a core of units you’ll always bring along and add thematic elements to that core?"

I always build my lists to a certain points value. I do have key units that my list usually revolves around, auto-include units if you will (cough - thunderfire cannons - cough)

"What was the unit you left out of the list because it wouldn’t fit?"

Command squad on bikes full of nasty grav. Because it wouldn’t fit and because I have grav cents to fill this role as well.

"Do you include units with specific tasks in mind such as claiming objectives in maelstrom mission etc?"

I usually have backfield, midfield and upfront units when I build and play. For example a Thunderfire Cannon would be a backfield unit, sat on an objective if possible and only moving if it has to. Scouts are good midfield guys, especially in a speeder as they’re fast and can get to objectives fast, and they always support me with weight of fire. An upfront unit would be an ironclad in a drop pod, drop in and charge!

"Do you give your armies background stories?"

No, I’m still trying to come up with a name for the tango marines

"What’s the most incredible tale any of your models has ever achieved - the unkillable guardsman? The Ork sniper?"

I once had Vulkan miss all his attacks rolling 3 ones, he had mastercrafted and I rolled a one. Then he failed all his 2+ saves rolling ones and died. 7 consecutive rolls of a one. Someone get me the odds on that please! (Ed - I can help you out there Ryan, that’s 279,936 to 1 against!)

"Would the need to include a background piece for your army prevent you from entering a tournament, or would you welcome it with open arms?"

It wouldn’t put me off, I wrote a piece for my Red Scorpions back in the day with names for all the models. They were all names from the TV show Spartacus.

"Have you ever played a narrative event, either a formal one such as those run at Warhammer World, or a more informal arrangement such as a club campaign?"

I have, the narrative campaigns run by warhammer world are amazing fun, I can’t wait to do another! I also took part in the 24-hour charity event run by Nick at our local club…..amazing!

"If yes, how much did the narrative aspect attract you to that event, or was it just another chance to play some games?"

The narrative affected game play, as it affected the missions and you end up playing games you would never normally play. For example I played against Tau. I deployed 12” from the centre of the table and had to have a single model left alive to win, whilst the Tau had to wipe me out. His units came back to life when they died. It was a hard, different, yet enjoyable game.

"Which is your favourite special character in the whole of 40k, and why?"GUARDSMAN MARBO! May he rest in peace, this one guy was the reason I started collecting guard after playing against him at a warhammer world event. He popped up behind me and killed 5 marines then stole my quad gun, what a legend!